不如

Chinese

		not; no	as (if); such as
trad. (不如)		不	如
simp. #(不如)		不	如

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùrú

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ jyu⁴

• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): put-yì

  (Hailu, HRS): bud rhi

  (Changting, Changting Pinyin): be² yi²

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): put-lû / put-lîr / put-jî / put-jû
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁷peq-zy

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùrú
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùrú
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-ju²
    • Yale: bù-rú
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: buru
    • Palladius: бужу (bužu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ jyu⁴
    • Yale: bāt yùh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ jy⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ yu⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: put-yì
    • Hakka Romanization System: bud^ˋ i^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: bud⁵ yi²
    • Sinological IPA: /put̚² i¹¹/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: put-yì
    • Hakka Romanization System: bud^ˋ (r)i^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: bud⁵ yi²
    • Sinological IPA: /put̚² (j)i¹¹/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: bud rhi
    • Sinological IPA: /put⁵⁻² ʒi⁵⁵/
  • (Changting)
    • Changting Pinyin: be² yi²
    • Sinological IPA: /pe²⁴ i²⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Taipei)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: put-lû
    • Tâi-lô: put-lû
    • Phofsit Daibuun: putluu
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /put̚³²⁻⁴ lu²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /put̚⁵⁻²⁴ lu²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: put-lîr
    • Tâi-lô: put-lîr
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /put̚⁵⁻²⁴ lɯ²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: put-jî
    • Tâi-lô: put-jî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: putjii
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /put̚³²⁻⁵ d͡zi¹³/
  • (Hokkien: Kaohsiung)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: put-jû
    • Tâi-lô: put-jû
    • Phofsit Daibuun: putjuu
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /put̚³²⁻⁴ zu²³/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁷peq-zy
    • MiniDict: peh^入 zy
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴peq-zr
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /pəʔ³³ zz̩⁴⁴/

Verb

不如

1. to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as; cannot compare to; to be inferior to

   今天不如昨天暖和。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Jīntiān bùrú zuótiān nuǎnhuo. [Pinyin]

   Today is not as warm as yesterday.

   有些人活得真不如畜生。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Yǒuxiē rén huó de zhēn bùrú chùsheng. [Pinyin]

   Some people are so contemptible.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 比不上 (“cannot compare with; not as good as”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		不若
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		比不上, 不如, 不比
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	當不倒
Cantonese	Hong Kong	比唔上
Southern Min	Xiamen	𣍐拚, 𣍐拚得, 無拚, 無比止, 較輸
	Quanzhou	無拚, 較輸
	Zhangzhou	𣍐拚, 𣍐拚得, 無拚, 較輸

Derived terms

• 人算不如天算 (rén suàn bùrú tiān suàn)
• 好死不如賴活著 / 好死不如赖活著 (hǎosǐ bùrú lài huózhe)
• 授人以魚不如授人以漁 / 授人以鱼不如授人以渔 (shòu rén yǐ yú bùrú shòu rén yǐ yú)
• 揚湯止沸，不如去薪 / 扬汤止沸，不如去薪 (yángtāngzhǐfèi, bùrú qù xīn)
• 擇日不如撞日 / 择日不如撞日 (zérì bùrú zhuàng rì)
• 求人不如求己 (qiúrén bùrú qiújǐ)
• 獨樂樂不如眾樂樂 / 独乐乐不如众乐乐 (dú yuè lè bùrú zhòng yuè lè)
• 生不如死 (shēngbùrúsǐ)
• 百聞不如一見 / 百闻不如一见 (bǎi wén bùrú yī jiàn)
• 盡信書不如無書 / 尽信书不如无书 (jìn xìn shū bùrú wú shū)
• 相見不如懷念 / 相见不如怀念 (xiāngjiàn bùrú huáiniàn)
• 老翁疼茈某，茈翁不如無 / 老翁疼茈某，茈翁不如无
• 聞名不如見面 / 闻名不如见面 (wénmíng bùrú jiànmiàn)
• 臨淵羨魚，不如退而結網 / 临渊羡鱼，不如退而结网 (lín yuān xiàn yú, bù rú tuì ér jié wǎng)
• 自愧不如 (zìkuì-bùrú)
• 落水的鳳凰不如雞 / 落水的凤凰不如鸡 (luòshuǐ de fènghuáng bùrú jī)
• 豬狗不如 / 猪狗不如 (zhūgǒubùrú)
• 遠親不如近鄰 / 远亲不如近邻 (yuǎnqīn bùrú jìnlín)
• 長痛不如短痛 / 长痛不如短痛 (cháng tòng bùrú duǎn tòng)

Conjunction

不如

1. it would be better to; might as well; let's

   不如今日去游水啦！ [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   bat¹ jyu⁴ gam¹ jat⁶ heoi³ jau⁴ seoi² laa¹! [Jyutping]

   Let's go swimming today!

Synonyms

• (archaic) 何如 (hérú)
• (literary) 莫若 (mòruò), 莫如 (mòrú)
• (Jin) 哪如

References

• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “不如”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 21.

Japanese

Kanji in this term
不	如
しかず
Grade: 4	Grade: S
jukujikun

For pronunciation and definitions of 不如 – see the following entry.

【如しかず】 [verb] negative of 如く [verb] to be worse than; be inferior to Alternative spellings 不若, 若かず, 不及, 及かず

(This term, 不如, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)